


Resurgence

by cancerchild



Category: Homestuck
Genre: All non-canon ships are implied, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, And Sollux, Don't play with guns, F/M, Gen, I was going somewhere with this fic, Karkat has a potty mouth, M/M, No humans, Rated for Karkat's goddamn mouth, So does Eridan, Stand up for what you believe in, and can be viewed as friendship, and mine apparently, but I forgot where, even if you're standing alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 21:51:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cancerchild/pseuds/cancerchild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat has been taken prisoner by the Empress. The others will not take this lying down. A plan is concocted. A rescue, mounted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Resurgence

Karkat glared, chest heaving. He flatly refused to be broken. No matter what they did, he would not give them the satisfaction of letting them win. The last three nights had been straight out of his worst subconscious visions, yeah, but it didn't matter. That wasn't the fucking point. The goddamn point was that he had lived his entire fucking life, such as it was, in fear of these assholes and he would be damned if he died in fear of them, too. He knew his friends would do their best but, when he was staring down the business end of the executioner's bow, he wasn't counting on much. He didn't blame them: they had to keep Feferi safe until they could act.

This was not the time for reckless heroics.

They'd managed, by sticking and working together, to dodge both conscription and the drones. They'd all known that they didn't have much time and fewer allies. The reason that all previous rebellions had failed was lack of preparation, support and conviction. The twelve of them had more than plenty of that last. And they had been planning this for sweeps now, that wasn't the problem either. It was their support, their allies. Or rather, it was the lack thereof. They all knew of a few trolls who might stand with them, but they were few and far between. How could a dozen or so young adults topple a corrupt empire and place their own heiress on the throne?

He focused his stare on the Empress. Their plans wouldn’t die with him. He wasn’t crucial and probably they could all do without his mouth. Karkat’s grin flashed out, sharp and bright and slightly cynical, at that thought. Yeah, nobody would miss his mouth. Just over nine sweeps old and he still had an atrocious vocabulary.  
But if they turned him into a fucking martyr, he’d come back and haunt them all.

A small movement on his leg caught his attention. Up his leg, his side, around his back and onto his shoulder. What the fuck? He twisted to try and see what had caused it. Oh. Oh, fuck no. Those goddamn stupid fucking idiots.

“Redeem yourself, Darkleer.”

Karkat’s head whipped back up. Shit. Too late.

♋*♋*♋*♋*♋

Eridan shifted forward slightly to get a better angle. His hands were steady on his rifle even as his heart, mind and stomach were roiling. He could not miss this shot. He didn't usually miss his target, but when he did, it was usually because he was nervous. Heh. Nervous. He wasn’t nervous. He was fuckin terrified. Their entire chance at getting Kar free at this point was down to him hitting his target to set the whole thing in motion. No pressure, Eridan. Just blast something you can barely see without killing anyone. He grinned. There were more than a few trolls down there that he wouldn’t in the least mind exterminating.

The hand that suddenly squeezed his shoulder didn’t phase him. She was such a tactile troll, always touching someone. His hand came up automatically to brush hers, then resettled on his gun.

“Steady on, Eridan. We only have one chance at this.”

“I’m all right, Fef. I just...I hate seein him like that. I want to just take out the whole damn lot of them and be done with it.”

Feferi’s hand tightened on his shoulder again. “I know. There isn’t any one of us who doesn’t want the same thing. Be patient. We’re nearly there. We’ll get him back.”

“Yeah. Hey, can you see Vris and Sol from here?”

“No, but they’re in place. I was with them before I made my way here. Why?”

“No reason. Just gettin twitchy, I guess,” he told her, adjusting his grip.

“It’s nearly time. Everyone’s ready. Everyone is exactly where they are supposed to be and ready to move on your signal. Watch for Tavros’ sign. He said it would be subtle, but something you would understand. Take the shot when you’re ready, when it feels right. Gamzee and I will be in position to move with you-”

“He’s grinnin.”

“What? Who is?”

“Kar. You know that grin he sometimes gets when Sol and I go at each other? When he knows what’s goin to happen and he can either yell or deal with it and he’s savin up his yellin?”

Feferi’s laugh burbled out, “Yes.”

“He’s doin it now. He’s- That’s it, that’s gotta be. Aiye, Tav, really?”

“What did he do?”

“A fuckin lizard just crawled up Kar’s leg and it’s sittin on his shoulder. He’s starin at it, or tryin to anyway. Real subtle there, Nitram.” Eridan’s grumbling tapered off as he sighted down his barrel. "You ready for this, Fef?"

"Yes, let me get to Gamzee and then take your shot." She hesitated, then hunkered down and kissed him between his horns. "Aim true, Erifin. Let's bring our boy home." The grim smile that flashed across his face for an instant, there and gone, wasn't the one she wanted, but she'd take what he could give her.

"I intend to. Go." Eridan listened for her movement to stop beside their friend. This was it. This was his moment. Please don't forget, Sol. Please. He breathed deeply, flexed his fingers once, twice, then squeezed the trigger.

♒*♓*♒*♓*♒

“I hate thith.”

“Me too.”

“You ever tried to handle thith many trollth before?”

“Not near. Or trolls so much older and more experienced. I swear our ancestors are down there.”

“Thome of them are. ED’th ith. I can thee him. And GZ’th. It’th tho weird.”

“What are they doing?”

“Danthing attendanth on the empreth. Ampora-thethtor ith, anyway. Makara-thethtor ith thtaring at KK, but I can’t tell what he’th thinking. Fucking thtupid make-up.”

“The Grand Highblood is staring at Karkat? Why, I wonder? Hmm...I could-”

“ _No_.” Sollux whipped around to glare at her. “Don’t you dare. You have no clue what would happen if you tried. You had a migraine for dayth when you tried connecting to GZ latht thweep.. That’th the GRAND HIGHBLOOD. The thtrongetht thubjugglator in ekthithenth. You want to get yourthelf killed??”

“Yeah, probably not the best idea. He’s probably thinking about another mutant that he watched culled down there. Now, where are-? There they are. Tavros, Nepeta and Equius look like they’re ready at their end. Let me just...” Vriska let the conversation taper off and focused on Equius. ~ _Are you guys ready Equius?_ ~ Her mind in his, she could read his thoughts.

~ _Yes. Tavros is readying his messenger now. I trust you and Sollux are prepared for your part of things?_ ~

~ _Yeah, we’re ready. He says the Grand Highblood is staring at Karkat. I hope Gamzee is good enough to hold him back if he decides to go after our little mutant_.~

~ _Gamzee will cope. He would never allow anyone to further injure Karkat. He will never forgive them for torturing him, either. I shudder to think what would have happened had Tavros not been there when Gamzee found out Karkat had been taken._ ~

She shivered. ~ _No kidding. That was terrifying as it was. Gamzee on a murderous rampage is not something I ever wanted to imagine, let alone see. I’ll tell Sollux to stand by. Can you see the executioner?_ ~

~ _Very well. And yes, I can._ ~

~ _Can you handle it?_ ~

~ _Yes_.~

She left him, trusting that he could handle himself. He’d be in awe, yes, but their friend was in danger. That was more important that seeing his ancestor. It was to her, too. **IF** Mindfang was down there, she really needed to be careful. Vriska didn’t have even an eighth of that experience. She bit her lip. What if others with her powers could feel her connecting to her allies?

“You back with me, Vk?”

Vriska shrugged the mood off. If they could feel it, then they could feel it. There was no point in worrying about it now. “Yeah, Equius says Tavros is about to signal Eridan.”

“Tho everyone’th in plathe now. I wish I could thee if KK’th all right.”

She set her hand on his back. “For all that he’s the smallest, Karkat is probably the strongest of us. You know that. If they dragged him out here, it means they couldn’t break him. If the entire universe ended, you know that it would be him who dragged us all out and got us through it by the skin of our teeth without breaking a sweat.”

Sollux snorted. “Yeah, and he'd be thwearing at uth the whole time.”

Vriska smirked. Karkat was famous for letting loose a stream of profanity just to make Equius turn blue. It never failed and they teased Equius incessantly for it. Even Aradia was known to pick on him gently.

_~Vriska? Get ready! Tell Sollux that Eridan will be moving soon.~_

_~Right. Thanks Tavros. We're set here.~_

_~I'm supposed to ask you to remind Sollux to not forget to guard Karkat from ricochet and shrapnel from Eridan's gun.~_

_~I will. See you below.~_

_~See you below.~_

 Vriska tossed her dice in the air and caught them. "Tavros says Eridan is ready and to remember Karkat's shield."

 

All the amusement went out of Sollux's posture. “Ath if I’d forget. Ok, here we go.”

 ♏*♊*♏*♊*♏

“Calm down.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Nepeta, I will not tell you again. You need to calm down. I understand that you are overwrought, but you must save your energy, as we all do. This will be difficult enough, with only eight of us acting in concert, without you prematurely exhausting yourself. Please, try to relax while Tavros is preparing the last piece.”

“...fine.”

Equius gave his moirail a look. “That does mean come out of the tree, palemate.” Nepeta let out a whine worthy of a troll a third her age. He grinned up at her. “Now.”

“Hmph.” She climbed down and curled up in his lap. “How long is this going to take? We need to go before they get bored with watching.”

“Soon. Tavros needs to make certain the little creature understands it’s mission. If we move too quickly, we will throw away our only chance to liberate him. You know that. Try to think of this as one of your hunts. You must stalk your prey patiently, correct? It is the same. Except we are rescuing our prey rather than devouring it.”

“Makes sense. I just wish we were already done and had Karkat out of their hands now. I wish we were home.”

Equius wrapped his arms around gently and rested his head atop hers. “So do we all. And soon enough we will be.”

“Guys?”

Equius and Nepeta came to instant attention. “Done, Tavros? Are we hunting now?”

“In a few minutes. I’ve gotten Karkat’s attention, and Eridan’s. And I gave Vriska the head’s up and reminded her to remind Sollux to shield Karkat. Get in position to move.” His wings, which had grown in quite suddenly half a sweep ago, fluttered and shifted slightly in the breeze.

“Finally,” she murmured as she scrambled up.

Tavros followed her to the bare coverage on the cliff-side. “Look, I’m sorry it took so long, but there’s only lizards around here and I’m not the best with them. They fight me.”

“Nepeta is not upset with you, Tavros,” Equius told him, crouching next to them. “She is frustrated, as we all are, with the situation and her inability to act immediately.”

Tavros smiled at him. “I understand. I promise I’ll do my best to protect her.”

“I know you will.”

The three of them settled into position on their ledge, waiting, waiting...

♐*♌*♉*♌*♐

There was a resounding crack of sound and a flash of white light/heat and they all leaped.

Tavros caught Nepeta around her middle and flared his wings to catch the wind. The two of them landed beside Equius and flanked him. The flaring red/blue light behind them was their only initial sign that the others were near. Equius leveled his own bow at his ancestor. Nepeta lowered into a battle stance. Lance at the ready, Tavros braced for the onslaught.

Sollux wrapped Vriska and himself in psionic energy and dropped down on either side of Tavros and Nepeta. Playing his psionics off of her mind control, they were barely holding back the hoard. The empress was out of her seat and Sollux could feel the Highblood’s chucklevoodoo slamming at the barrier he was pouring his energy into. Sweat dripped down Vriska’s face and back as she struggled to keep the trolls in place. She could feel Tavros doing what he could to use his power to boost her own and was grateful for it.

“What is this? What do you think you’re doing,” came the voice of Her Imperious Condescension. She stepped forward slowly, Dualscar and the Grand Highblood a step behind and to either side of her. “Such a fuss over one measly little mutant.”

“Fuck you, too. You guys are all fucking idiots, you know that, right?”

Dualscar lifted a rifle with one arm and leveled it at their prisoner, “You want to watch your mou-” He yelled and shook out his arm when the gun was shot out of it.

“If you know what’s good for your health, you will not point a weapon at him again,” Feferi told the older troll, advancing from the shadows behind her friends. Eridan held Ahab’s Crosshairs steadily on his ancestor. Gamzee stood at her side, deep in his mind, fighting off his own ancestor’s attack. The heiress spoke directly to the empress. “Karkat is a very dear friend of mine. Of ours. We will NOT allow anyone to harm him.”

While Feferi kept the empress busy, Vriska was scanning the crowd. There was no way she was doing this on her own, even with Tavros’ help. Who was holding the crowd?

_~Is he worth it?~_

She tensed. Damn it, she knew there were others in the mob but -

_~Is he really worth everything you're risking for him?~_

Vriska bit her lip, indecisive. This wasn’t a troll she knew. Could she trust them? Was this a good idea?

_~Is he worth your own life?~_

_~Always. There are few I would die for, but he’s one of them. What do you want?~_

_~Freedom.~_

_~...what? No, what?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?~_

Though her face was impassive to not give herself away, Vriska watched in horrified fascination as one of the watching trolls disjointedly picked up Dualscar’s rifle and took aim. She gave Sollux a mental nudge.

_~What?~_

_~Get a stronger shield between us and them. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want it going against us.~_

_~Ok, if you say so. But what do you mean, what’s going on? Oh. Oh, I see. Well, that’s interesting, isn’t it?~_

_~WHAT ARE THEY DOING?~ERIDAN! GET GAMZEE AND FEFERI BEHIND THE SHIELD. NOW!!~_

Eridan started, then holstered his rifle and hauled his friends back and down. The moment they had Feferi covered, the shot rang out. The ricochet bounced off Sollux’s barrier and they were all splattered with the resultant spray of tyrian blood. Complete and horrified silence reigned for a full minute before Tavros swore and grabbed Vriska, dropping down to where Feferi was clutching her head. The two of them threw themselves into a practiced connection to wrap Feferi around her lusus’ mind.

_~No, mother, all is well. I’m here. See? Tavros and Vriska are with me. All’s well,~_

The Grand Highblood, Dualscar and Darkleer stood immobile as all the gathered trolls waited, stunned, to see what would become of the Heiress. Gamzee, Eridan and Equius pressed forward, weapons at the ready, willing to die to protect each other and their friends. The adults simply stood staring at the corpse that had been their empress only moments before. Nepeta tugged on Sollux’s sleeve. When she had his attention, she gestured at Karkat. He nodded, speaking softly, “Be ready to catch him.”

“Always.”

Maintaining the shield to keep the adults away and doing fiddly work like opening Karkat’s bonds was difficult. He and Nepeta eased their friend to the ground, mindful of his injuries.

“You guys are fucking stupid, you know that, right? I mean, what were you thinking? Oh, that’s right, you WEREN’T. BECAUSE NOBODY WHO WAS ACTUALLY USING THEIR THINK PAN WOULD HAVE BROUGHT FEFERI OUT HERE WITH SUCH DISMAL FUCKING PROTECTION.” He went on in that vein while they checked him over. It was pretty pointless to try to get him to shut his mouth once he got going and it kept him distracted. This was bad.

Very bad.

The cool hand on his shoulder was a welcome relief that made him fall silent. “Enough, Karkat,” Kanaya said. “That is more than enough. It was her idea to be here in the first place. Everything has worked out for the best. Relax. You’re safe now.” She took the roll of bandaging that Aradia held out to her. They needed to get him stabilized quickly. He was losing far too much blood. “We’ll only get everything set and covered for the moment, Aradia. He needs to wash thoroughly before most of these can be properly treated. I do apologize, Karkat, but you will not enjoy this, I can promise you that.”

“I do not even care. Do what you have to do and get us the fuck out of here. Please. I want to go home.”

“Very well. Here, Nepeta. Lift his shoulders a bit so we can get this around his ribs. There. Sollux, hold him still. That needs to be put back in place so it heals correctly and he’ll have full use of that arm again.”

"There wath never any chanth that we were going to let them keep you, KK. The firtht thing FF did when NP brought in the newth wath to thtart making planth with her and VK to break you out."

Karkat closed his eyes and clutched Nepeta's hand. He took back every single word he'd ever said against his friends. They were amazing and perfect and **OH FUCK DON'T TOUCH THAT IT BURNS SHIT NO STOP** -

Eridan twitched with every shriek and gasp that came from Karkat. Listening to Kanaya and the others patch him up was nearly as bad as seeing him chained and bleeding on the face of the cliff. He knew he was showing his weakness to his enemies, but he couldn't help it. He wanted more than anything to sit down and pull Kar into his arms and shut out the world. Eridan could see his ancestor's measuring look and glowered. Fuck you, douche. Eridan had watched as Kar twisted and used the chains around his wrists to flip himself around, yelling and swearing and FUCKING BLEEDING OUT the whole time, dodging the rocks and other shit that was thrown at him. So, no. Fuck you, ancestor. Fuck. You.

"Why are you being so fucking twitchy about that mutated little shrimp?"

Equius nudged his shoulder gently before he could respond. Eridan breathed deeply and settled himself, considering his words meticulously before speaking. "I've known him near since grubhood. He, and these others, are more important to me than you could possibly imagine and I will not stand idly by while you torture and cull him. I will not allow you or anyone else to take them from me." Eridan lowered his rifle from his ancestor, but not his gaze. “Above and beyond that, this,” he gestured first at the crowd then at the cliff, “is wrong. Cullin someone who ain’t done anythin but live when you think they shouldn’t is unacceptable.”

“Eridan is right." Tavros and Vriska flanked Gamzee and Equius as they and Feferi stood from their huddle and joined the barricade keeping the adults away from Karkat. Feferi came forward to stand beside Eridan. “I don’t know whose brilliant idea that was, but it certainly simplified matters, even as it complicated them. Your empress is dead. The Alternian throne is mine. You will not touch Karkat Vantas. Or any of these others who rallied to his aid. This gratuitous culling of mutants and lowbloods stops now. Karkat and others like him did not choose their blood color any more than you did yours. Culling or imprisoning trolls for something as unchangeable as blood or psionic ability will not be tolerated any longer. We, as a species, are violent and bloodthirsty, I realize and understand that. Things happen, mistakes are made. However. That does not mean that you may murder anyone whose opinions and beliefs are contradictory to yours. I will not stand for it. If you decide to end someone else’s life, be prepared that your life, in turn, might end if my legislacerator determines that your actions were unjust.” She turned to her childhood moirail. “Eridan, will you please help Kanaya take Karkat home?” He glanced at her, gaze darting between their adversaries and his friend. Feferi put her hand on his shoulder and leaned close to him. “We have the situation well in hand. Kanaya and Aradia will go with you. Sollux and Nepeta too, as guards. Terezi is already there waiting. He needs to be somewhere he feels safe so he can start healing." She brushed her hand through his hair fondly and pressed her forehead to his. Dropping her voice to a murmur, she said, "He needs you more than we do just now, Erifin, even though you know he won't admit to it."

"Yeah, ok," Eridan holstered his gun across his back and turned to Kanaya. "Is he stable? Can we risk movin him?"

"Yes, he'll be all right for the next while and it would be better if we did the rest at home. It's cleaner."

He nodded and crouched beside Karkat. "Ready, Kar?"

"Fucking get me out of here, fishface."

Eridan very slowly and carefully hefted the injured troll into his arms and cradled him to his chest. Holding Karkat to him, he turned back to the gathering for a moment. "You know, I used to think like you do, when I was a wiggler. Y'know, power to the highbloods, death to the low. But I realized somethin as I grew up. We're physically stronger than they are and we live infinitely longer. But they, for the most part, have all the psionic power. I have never met a stronger psionic than Sol, and Tav's the best beast-communer I know. She doesn't have powers of that sort, but there is no better huntress on Alternia than Nep. I would have happily seen them slaughtered when I was young, but I grew up and left that idiocy behind. Because I realized that we complete each other. Why would we be so much stronger than they are if we weren't supposed to protect them? Why would they be so powerful if they weren't meant to help us? We're symbiotic, or we're supposed to be." He grinned at Sollux, who smirked and clapped him on the shoulder, then turned back to the older highbloods, serious again. "I left your blood caste bullshit behind when I was around five and a half and I'm a better troll for it. That bein said, if you ever lay a hand on one of my friends again, I will gut you alive and shove your innards up your nook." Having said his piece, Eridan turned and started making his way away from the cliffs and into the forest.

Kanaya and Aradia watched the crowd for a moment longer, then followed after the seatroll. Sollux gestured for Nepeta to precede him and they took up rear guard positions behind the others.

Feferi smiled as they left before turning back to deal with the assassination fallout. "Now, this is what is going to happen..."

**Author's Note:**

> So this happened. What started out as a tiny little scene between Eridan and Karkat became nine freaking pages of word vomit once I started typing it up. I'm still not quite sure how that came about. If inspiration strikes again, this may become a series of word vomit, but don't count on it.


End file.
